TODAY'S CONSIDERATIONS
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THE EVOLUTION OF MAHARAJ’S MESSAGE:
From dogma to spirituality to psychology
In 1915, Maharaj found employment in Bombay (Mumbai today) as a clerk with a private firm; however, owing to the strong, independent nature of the Personality Type Four Rebel, he soon took to trading on his own. He started a business of making and selling hand-made local cigarettes (bidis), starting with one shop that soon multiplied into eight shops.
He got married to Sumatibai in the year 1924, and raised a family of four children with her. It would be at the age of 34 in 1933 that Nisargadatta first met his Guru, Sri Samartha Siddharameshwar.
Finally, Maharaj came to see that even a thriving material life could bring no contentment as his quest for truth was still unfulfilled. After his guru took mahasamadh in the year 1936, Nisargadatta suddenly decided to abandon the material life. He left his family and business behind and entered into his “wanderer” or “forest dweller” stage and began moving throughout Southern India on a 24-7 "quest" or "search."
Along the way, his path crossed that of a fellow guru-brother who made him realize that dispassionate action in an active life is more meaningful than in an inactive and abandoned life.
Soon after, Maharaj returned to Bombay and found out that only one of his eight shops had remained open. But this was enough for him, for he knew that one shop would suffice for his “relative needs.”
Word began to spread among seekers in
Bombay that a shop owner named Maruti Shivrampant Kambli was offering answers to certain questions regarding the dogma
of Hinduism and non-duality.
Around that time, Maharaj had been trying to spend quiet time in his overcrowded-with-family flat on Vanmali Bhavan, 10th Lane, Khetwadi, Bombay, India,
made even noisier by the fact that the rear of his apartment was attached to the rear of a brothel operating on the street behind him.
Gradually, the number of people outside his shop increased to form a small crowd who came regularly to listen to Nisargadatta’s words of wisdom.
Meanwhile, as a retreat of sorts, Maharaj had earlier built an addition in his flat, a small 10' x 20' room, or a “loft,” above the living area of his flat, reached by climbing a narrow and steep staircase.
When the crowds outgrew the space which the shop could accommodate, he began using his loft as a place for gatherings and for the singing of bhajans and the occasional playing of music which also inspired dancing at times, followed by a “devotion” or message.
Maharaj, however, was less interested in the religious message and the trappings of Hinduism and more interested in the message of non-duality. For a time, as he tried to abandon talk of religion replaced with a non-dual message, he complained to his still-living guru at the time that the crowd numbers were decreasing, not increasing.
His
guru Sri Siddharameshwar offered some “sneaky” advice: use religion to bring
them in and then pepper the devotions with non-dual pointers. (Ah, the old bait and switch trick, huh?)
For a time, he tried that, but another, even more drastic shift in messaging was about to occur.
With the publication and international circulation of a book containing transcripts of some of his talks (entitled I AM THAT), an international audience of seekers began to find their way to his loft in 10th Lane, Khetwadi. Fewer with an interest in dogma came to the loft as more began to appear who were seeking something “spiritual.”
The newer audience had little interest in singing bhajans and dancing, and Maharaj allowed them to influence him and what he offered (to the chagrin of many of his earlier Hindu followers).
With the onset of more and more “spiritual seekers” (and would-be Spiritual Giants), Maharaj would eventually abandon the use of a religious / non-dual version of the Ultimate Medicine and would offer a mainly spiritual / non-dual version of the Ultimate Medicine.
In the third phase of his years of teaching - after Maharaj had abandoned the use of a religious / non-dual version of the Ultimate Medicine and after he would also abandon the use of a spiritual / non-dual version of the Ultimate Medicine – the critics came forth with loud voices.
So why did he shift into a third phase? He came to realize that the Ultimate Sickness (a) did not involve persons knowing too little dogma and (b) did not involve persons having a "sick spiritual" or a "spiritual malady.”
To the contrary, he came to understand that (c) the problems of humankind are centered in the mind.
At that point, he began using a psychology / non-dual version of the Ultimate Medicine.
To that end, he came to see that
"Science will someday advance to the point that it will confirm the validity of the non-dual teachings"
and that
“The idea that you know what is true is dangerous, for it keeps you imprisoned in the mind.”
He also came to understand the following:
"All illness begins in the mind."
"Your confusion is . . . in your mind."
"Whatever is conceived by the mind must be false, for it is bound to be relative and limited."
"Distrust your mind, and go beyond."
"There is no chaos in the world except the chaos which your mind creates."
" . . . The mind obscures and distorts."
"It is the mind that creates illusion."
"There is no such thing as peace of mind. Mind means disturbance. Restlessness itself is mind."
"Don't rely on your mind for liberation. It is the mind that brought you into bondage. Go beyond it altogether."
"Beyond the mind there is no suffering."
And what is “the mind” filled with? Ideas, concepts, notions, thoughts, perceptions, impressions, theories, etc., all of which he referred to as humankind’s body of “learned ignorance” (also known as, “beliefs”).
Having reached that understanding, he also came to understand that no institution has propagated more beliefs - and thus more false beliefs - than religion, followed closely by politics / big government and by big business.
To that end, he would simplify his definition of what realization is not and what realization is by affirming that
“Realization is simply being freed from all belief in the learned ignorance which has been taught.”
In the end, he would make clear that he believed nothing.
As for religious beliefs:
"First of all you identify something as being good or bad for yourself. Then, in an effort to acquire good or to get rid of the bad, you have invented a God. Then you worship such a God and . . . you pray to that God for something good to happen to you."
As for spiritual beliefs:
"Whatever spiritual things you aspire to know are all happening in this objective world, in the illusion. All this is happening in the objective world. All is dishonesty. There is no truth in this fraud."
As for faith in any Hindu teachings and even in most non-dual teachings:
“I have no faith in anything which has ever been told, not even what has been told by the Vedas. Only my own experience.”
In other words, his invitation to seekers became this:
Discard all beliefs (be they rooted in religion, spirituality, politics, or in anything else). Reach a state of zero concepts.
As for his take on science, he had long before seen the ignorance of religious leaders attacking scientists and allowing the insanity of religious or spiritual fanaticism to inspire non-factual information to be accepted as truth as a result of blind faith to the point that, throughout history, those types of fanatics often advised their congregants that all scientifically-based beliefs were atheism-rooted beliefs.
Finally, contrary to the critics who lambasted Maharaj for “turning his back on his religious roots,” he did no such thing; instead, he turned to face the truth, to find freedom from believing in all the nonsense he had been taught, and to reach a no-concepts, no beliefs, no-lies state.
To be continued.
Please enter into the silence of contemplation.
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THE EXPLANATION
Yeshu'a (Jesus) and Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis were spot on:
"No one shall ever see 'the kingdom of heaven.' It is within"
and
"Heaven and earth shall fade away."
and
"Heaven and hell are not geographic places
"There is no hell."
